The New International Encyclopædia/Abgar

​AB'GAR. A common name or title of several kings of Edessa in northwestern Mesopotamia. One of them is known from an alleged correspondence with Christ. The account given by Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History, xiii., i.) states that he sent a letter to Christ requesting him to come to Mesopotamia and heal him. To this Christ made a reply that although unable himself to come, he would, after his ascension, send a disciple. Both of these letters Eusebius claims to have found in the archives of Edessa and believes to be genuine. Other versions add that Christ sent to the king a portrait, now displayed at both Rome and Genoa. Consult: R. A. Lipsius, Die Edessenische Abgar Sage (Brunswick, 1880).

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